Fullerton coach showed 'great lack of judgment,' district says

Oct. 5, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Fullerton Union High School head baseball coach Marc Patino, pictured in the school yearbook, received a written notice of unprofessional conduct and unsatisfactory performance from his employer last month for showing a "great lack of judgment" and potentially exposing the school district to legal liability. FILE PHOTO: PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Fullerton Union High School baseball player Grant Sims says his coach, Marc Patino, referred to Sims with a derogatory term for gay people and threatened him in a graphic way. In response, the school district issued Patino a written notice of unprofessional conduct and unsatisfactory performance last month. FILE PHOTO: PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Fullerton Union High School baseball player Grant Sims, center, with his father, Sean, and mother, Jackie, filed a formal complaint against head coach Marc Patino. The school district found that Patino directed "egregious and extremely offensive" comments toward the 16-year-old teen. FILE PHOTO: PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Fullerton Union High School head baseball coach Marc Patino, pictured in the school yearbook, received a written notice of unprofessional conduct and unsatisfactory performance from his employer last month for showing a "great lack of judgment" and potentially exposing the school district to legal liability. FILE PHOTO: PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

FULLERTON – A Fullerton Union High School head baseball coach accused of using vulgar, degrading language in front of his student athletes was excoriated by his employer for showing a "great lack of judgment" and potentially exposing the school district to legal liability.

Marc Patino, a full-time social science teacher at Fullerton Union High School, used a derogatory term for Jewish people on "multiple occasions," uttered profanity and expletives "frequently" and directed "egregious and extremely offensive" comments toward Fullerton Union baseball player Grant Sims, according to an Aug. 20 written notice of unprofessional conduct and unsatisfactory performance addressed to Patino.

In accordance with state laws, he was given 45 days to correct his inappropriate behaviors and 90 days to correct his professional "deficiencies."

"You failed to recognize the seriousness of your conduct and you failed to acknowledge that the student (Sims) was embarrassed that you had singled him out by ridicule in front of other students," the district's reprimand says. "... Your conduct has also disrupted student instruction and subjected the district to potential liability or embarrassment due to the nature and specifics of your statements."

Patino declined to comment Friday.

Patino's disciplinary records were requested by the Register in the wake of an article last month that chronicled the pervasiveness of vulgar, threatening language in high school sports. In the article, Sims discussed the allegations against his coach and said he hoped to shine a spotlight on an issue that was rarely discussed and reported by students.

In Patino's six-page reprimand notice released this week by the Fullerton Union High School District, Assistant Superintendent Edward Atkinson wrote that Patino admitted referring to Sims with a derogatory term for gay people and to telling Sims he was going to "skull (expletive)" the 16-year-old teen, the reprimand says.

Sims said the June 25 incident occurred during a baseball team huddle. Sims gave his coach a displeased look after Patino referred to Sims with the gay slur, at which point Patino threatened to initiate the graphic sex act, according to a written complaint filed with the school district.

Patino apologized to Sims' father after Sean Sims confronted the coach, according to the district and the Sims family. But Patino never apologized to Grant Sims, the Sims family said.

In the reprimand notice, Patino also appeared to defend his use of a derogatory term for Jewish people, telling school officials that "it was common for students to use that phrase and (he was) just repeating their use of it," the reprimand says.

"As a professional educator, you should understand that use of the term 'Jew (expletive)' in the educational setting is highly offensive and inappropriate, and there is no legitimate basis for using this term," the reprimand says.

Patino also was previously warned not to use expletives on the baseball field, according to the reprimand. Last spring, when a parent interrupted baseball practice to speak to a player, Patino told the parent, "What the (expletive)," the reprimand said. Fullerton Union High Principal Cathy Gach told him in a follow-up conversation that such language was never appropriate around students and parents.

"Principal Gach clearly stated that using the word '(expletive),' even in frustration, was not appropriate and not professional when speaking to any students or parents," Patino's reprimand said.

School district Superintendent George Giokaris on Friday said the reprimand notice spoke for itself and that he could not comment specifically on Patino's case, citing employee confidentiality laws.

"We hold all teachers accountable to uphold ethical standards, and if teachers do not respond in accordance with our ethical standards, we take transgressions very seriously and respond appropriately," Giokaris said.

Giokaris said district officials are required under state law to give teachers 45 days to correct inappropriate behaviors and 90 days to correct teaching deficiencies.

Even so, he said, officials can take additional action much sooner if a situation escalates.

"It's not like an employee like this has free rein to do anything they want for 45 or 90 days," Giokaris said. "It could be just one day before we need to take the next step in discipline."

Experts who were asked to review this case for the Register said the school district's ability to take decisive action against Patino was hampered by state laws that protect teachers' due-process rights.

"You would need to take measured steps toward something as big as suspension or dismissal," Theresa Daem, executive director of the Newport Beach-based National Association of School Superintendents, told the Register last month. "As horrible as it was, there are processes they have to adhere to."

Orange County school and athletic officials say that situations like the Patino case continue to play out on sports fields across the nation, a reflection of a decades-long, less-than-successful effort to wipe out the strong and threatening language used by high school coaches.

Still, officials noted, schools can only take action to wipe out these behaviors when students are willing to shine a spotlight on the problem.

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